The first half of the 10GHz and Up ARRL contest was August 17th and 18th, and a first for me and also for my partner, Jim, WA6GER.  We had a three foot dish and transverter graciously supplied by Dave, AD6A, and with some of our own equipment and some borrowed, on Friday preceding the contest we were off in our rented van to Frazier Mountain, between Bakersfield, CA and Los Angeles, a peak towering at 8,013 feet.

We were up early on Saturday morning and off to the mountain in the darkness, and were set up by the start of the contest, 0600 local time.  We had a few problems during the day, but we expected to, knowing that no mountain is too high for Murphy to climb.  But we did make 33 contacts and some were around 200 miles.  For beginners like us, that was rather mind-boggling and entirely satisfying.

On Sunday we were "rovers" and set up at various points along Highway 99, which runs north and south through much of the state.  As rovers we would work sometimes six or seven stations at one stop, the ones on Mt. Frazier and on Mt. St. Helena north of San Francisco, and some in between.  We made 30 contacts on that day, nothing compared to the number made by experienced 10Ghz operators, but we were satisfied with our performance as rank beginners.

Our participation was part of the contest effort of the 50 MHz and up group of northern California, which meets monthly in Palo Alto, and we want to thank the members for letting us participate in the contest with them, and thus get this new learning experience.  No matter how you slice it, Jim and I think that these microwaves are very exotic, the elite in hamming, heady stuff.

      73, ---Paul AK1P and Jim WA6GER